Grace Stumbled Upon at the Gathering
by Balin Lord of Moria
Summary: In my opinion, The Gathering had a very Lutheran Protestant message when the younglings searched for their crystals. In this story, they are introduced to Martin Luther's "GRACE ALONE, FAITH ALONE" philosophy and each of them starts to learn how they stumbled upon their crystals by grace, and not human effort. Contains Lutheran content.


**A/N: **This fanfic is written in honor of my all-time favorite _Clone Wars_ episode, **The Gathering**, and some of my favorite _Clone Wars_ characters, the six "Young Jedi."

This story illustrates the fact that I think **The Gathering** episode in season 5 has a very Lutheran message in it. I'm not trying to put down or reject any other religion or Christian denomination as wrong here, nor am I trying to make Lutheranism seem like the best or the only true denomination of Christianity; I was just raised Lutheran, and I thought my knowledge of Lutheran Protestantism might make for an interesting story.

I do not own _The Clone Wars_; Disney and Dave Filoni do, and I don't own the "grace by faith" message either; Martin Luther originally coined it.

* * *

_**Grace Stumbled Upon at the Gathering**_

* * *

It was a quiet day in the Jedi Archives. Jedi Master Tera Sinube had been busy training his favorite clan of Jedi younglings, which consisted of the last group of six Jedi children who had gone to Ilum for the Gathering, to be more physically fit in hand-to-hand combat, as well as assisting battlemaster Cin Drallig in training them in Form I lightsaber combat, and now, as the younglings rested from the workout, he had taken them to the Archives with the intention of teaching them an interesting lesson about their time on Ilum. Librarian Jocasta Nu gave them some guidance on where to find what Sinube was looking for, and soon, they were sitting down at a row of desks with computers in front of them that could read the holobooks of the library. Sinube stood in front of their desks, leaning on his cane, as he began to teach.

"Now then, children," Sinube said in his sleepy-sounding voice, "I believe you all can remember your excursion on Ilum a few weeks ago, as well as your misadventures with that pirate Hondo Ohnaka."

"Sure we do, Master Sinube," said Petro. "It was a blast!"

"How can I forget Ohnaka?" said Ganodi, "He nearly got us all killed."

"Come on, Ganodi," said Katooni, "Hondo wasn't all that bad. He _did_ save us from General Grievous, after all."

"Easy, children, easy," Sinube gently admonished them, "It was a fascinating adventure, I'm sure of it, and Hondo Ohnaka may be a mix of good and bad, but the pirates are not the topic of what I brought you here to talk about. I intend to open your eyes to a new way of looking at your experiences at the Gathering spiritually."

Gungi and Byph perked up. Their species were always a highly spiritual people. The others also looked interested, even tech savvy Zatt.

"Master Yoda, Padawan Tano, and you yourselves have all told me about what you went through to get your lightsaber crystals, including what sorts of trials you had to endure in order to find them and/or reach them," said Sinube. "And I can tell you now that your trials were not all that different from the religious philosophy of a human man from a very faraway world, one not in this galaxy, but in a galaxy far, far away."

"Master Sinube," asked Zatt, "if this galaxy is so far away, how could you possibly know about it? I don't remember ever reading about anybody from this galaxy ever doing any intergalactic travel of any kind."

"Yeah," said Ganodi, "It sounds a little far-fetched to me, too."

"Perhaps you children were never told of this before," explained Sinube, "but because the Archives have all the known information in the universe within its books, sometimes, we can even learn about other galaxies and their worlds. Now do you see? Anyway, the man I am talking about was named Martin Luther, and-"

Ganodi giggled. "What a funny name!" she said between laughs.

"I don't think I've ever heard of a name like that, either," said a smiling Petro.

"Guys," said Katooni, "everyone has their own name, and I could call some of the names in this galaxy unusual, too, you know. 'Petro' was always a funny name to me, but I don't laugh at it; at least, not when Petro's around."

"You think my name is funny, Katooooooni?" said Petro. "Well so is yours, to me."

"Hey, don't make fun of my name, either, Petrooooo," she responded playfully.

Gungi roared. Byph looked nervous.

Sinube tapped his cane on the floor. "That is enough, children!" he said sternly, "Don't change the subject! And keep your voices down, too! This is a library, after all." They noticed then that Master Nu was looking in their direction with a disapproving look on her face. The children quickly started behaving themselves.

"That is better," said Sinube. "Now, as I was about to say, this man was called Martin Luther, and he was a follower of an ancient religion called Christianity. In basic terms, the Christians believe that there is an Almighty God who created all and rules all with perfect goodness and justice, but also with love and mercy, and that after He created all life, His most personal creations, human man and woman, had rebelled against His benevolent rule and brought all humankind down into sin, which refers to an action that is against the will of God. For many long years afterwards, God, in His mercy, prepared a plan to save the men and women He loved from sin through a 'chosen people' He brought as an example to the world of God's power and greatness.

"At last, one night, God Himself was born in the form of a human baby named Jesus, who would save mankind from their sins through a sacrifice He without commit in His thirty-third year of life, taking all the punishment for sin on Himself. Then, on the third day after His death, He rose from the dead, not just in spirit, like some Jedi have been rumored to do, but in body, too, resulting in the defeat of death itself. And after returning to God's kingdom, His followers spread the news about how faith in Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and resurrection saved man from the punishment of the netherworld of hell, and how good deeds would result from true faith, because good deeds are expected of one who professes to follow this holy God."

The younglings listened with interest, doing their best to pay attention to all the details. Katooni, being a spiritual Tholothian, looked like she understood the lesson best.

"Now, I am not necessarily suggesting that you all diverge from your Jedi teachings and embrace this religion," said Sinube, "After all, while the Force is spiritual and embraces all religions, it does not wholly adhere to any one, no matter how good or holy. The Force is what gives a Jedi his/her power. However, Martin Luther, a Christian himself, can teach you how to see your training on Ilum in a new light. He was a revolutionary who didn't approve of the way the then-present Catholic church, the first official Christian church, was making money off of people's sins. Nor did he like the fact that people were always being told to 'do their best' to please God with their deeds, because he discovered that no one is truly righteous, no one at all, and that only grace achieved through living by faith can bring a person to God and Jesus. 'Grace' is the term Luther used to describe how true faith in God and His Son's sacrifice and resurrection is all that is needed to be saved from sin and be put righteous with Him, though he also said that good deeds are important, as well, because they naturally result from true faith.

"And this brings me to the part where it brings meaning to your own lives as young Jedi Padawans," he continued, "Through my studies of your adventures in the crystal caves, plus some conversations with Master Yoda on the subject, I believe that grace is something that you all achieved in the Jedi Temple on Ilum. Now, I want each of you to remember what you went through in the caves, and to meditate on the Force, asking it how you managed to come by your crystals and take them despite your weaknesses and faults you had at the time."

Some of the younglings looked like they still didn't fully understand Master Sinube's story, but they shut their eyes and concentrated on the Force, seeking for the answers.

* * *

Katooni saw herself discovering her crystal high up an ice wall hanging above a ledge. _"It's just so high. I can't climb that!"_ she remembered herself saying upon discovering it. She had felt a little frantic about climbing a cold, steep ice wall to get a crystal that was extremely high above the ground. She had decided to make the climb anyway, though, and although the climb was slow and hard, she began to gain confidence that the Force was with her, and her attitude became more positive. _"You can do this, Katooni, you can do it,"_ she told herself. By the time she reached the top and took her crystal, she knew that she couldn't have done it without faith in the power of the Force. And as a result of her newly discovered faith, she committed the good deed of climbing the wall in the first place, because she needed her crystal before she could leave the caves. It was then that she realized that it was not only her confident will, but also the grace of the Force, that had helped her to reach the top.

Byph recalled how fearful he had been of searching for his crystal by himself, especially when he had found it in the "mouth" of what seemed to be some kind of red and yellow monster. He had been certain that he wouldn't dare to go up against the ice monster, but knowing that he needed his crystal, he slowly edged and shuffled closer to the thing. As he got closer and closer to the "monster," he could hear the voice of the Force in his head whispering for him to keep moving, and to remember that it would be with him, always. That was the only thing that kept Byph moving, other than the fact that he didn't want to get trapped in the caves, but he was still afraid, and he stumbled upon the courage he needed to get the crystal from the "tongue" of the monster. In other words, his faith in the Force had given him the courage to face the fake monster and grab his crystal, and he smiled inwardly as he discovered this.

Ganodi had been one of the weakest of them when it came to finding her crystal, because she had never forgotten how she had despaired of finding it, particularly after literally stumbling into a cavern full of glowing crystals. She supposed she had been "sinning" at first, when she despaired of finding her crystal among all the false ones, and declared the situation to be hopeless. _"It's hopeless! Hopeless!"_ she had moaned. After crying for a little while, Ganodi had recovered her senses, and listened to the Force at last, that "still, small voice" that brought her peace of mind. Then, she believed in the Force's power to make her find her crystal, and found hope in it. _"I'm not afraid. I can do this. I'm a Jedi. I'm one with the Force, and the Force will guide me."_ Her hand reached out, and the pull of the Force brought her true crystal to her hand. She was overjoyed to see that the Force had given her the grace necessary to find it, and offered a silent _"Thank you,"_ to the Force. She wondered if she had needed grace the most of all of them at that moment, because of her own weakness for lack of hope.

Zatt remembered with some embarrassment that he had tried to use the love of his life, technology, to try to find his crystal, but it didn't get him anywhere, and he busted his datapad against a wall. He couldn't think of any other way to locate where his crystal was. But then, without thinking, he realized that he had to trust in himself, and in the Force, instead of in machinery, to find it, and the will of the Force guided him to the crystal's location, which was not far from where he stood. He learned, to his amazement, that it was behind the wall, in the very place where he had smashed his datapad. Even when he had been using the wrong means to find the crystal, the Force had been guiding him on the right path. Then, with the self-destruction of his datapad in the hole in the wall, he was able to reach it. Though he still retained his keen interest in technology, now he knew that trusting the Force, and himself, was the true path to the salvation of the Force.

Gungi had seen his crystal in the center of a subterranean ice lake, but the water was ice cold, so he couldn't swim in it, or risk falling in it. He knew the only way he could get it was to wait patiently for the lake to freeze over so he could cross the solid ice. For a while, he hadn't been able to be patient because of his inherent Wookiee nature of being impatient, but in the end, he quieted himself down and listened to the Force. It told him that he had to meditate on his knees in order to acquire the necessary patience, because it would still take a while for the lake to entirely freeze over. He obeyed its command, and time passed more easily, until the lake was entirely frozen, and he could slowly and carefully cross it and claim his crystal. The Force had given him the patience that he needed; he didn't strive for it on his own, but the Force had freely given it to him when he asked it for a solution to his problem. Gungi let out a call of triumph at this thought when he woke from his meditations.

Finally, Petro meditated on his own quest for his crystal. He had been a somewhat selfish boy at the time of the Gathering, and had gone off on his own, abandoning the others when he was afraid he wouldn't get out of the caves before it was too late. As a result, he found a false crystal when he first searched, and it melted into cold water in his hand in front of Yoda and Ahsoka. Then he had to go back inside and search again. He was almost humiliated by the experience, as he was the last of them to find his true crystal, and the last to get out of the caves. However, when he found Katooni trapped in a dead end cave, he listened to his conscience (after some initial hesitation) and helped her get out. It was then that his crystal finally revealed itself to him. He told Katooni to go on ahead without him, and broke through the ice door that sealed the caves with his body in order to get out. The grace of the Force had given him the selflessness he needed as a Jedi.

* * *

Their meditations all ended the next moment.

"So then, younglings," asked Sinube, "Have you learned anything from the Force today?"

"I have," said a smiling Katooni. "I found faith in the Force to climb that ice wall. Ordinarily, I really wouldn't have been able to climb it to the top, but the Force granted me the strength and confidence to get there. Without it, I might not have made it."

"Very true," agreed Sinube, "Anything is possible with the Force, while what is possible without it is limited."

Byph mentioned how he stumbled upon his courage to get his crystal from the fake monster in one of the caves.

Gungi said that the silent voice of the Force urged him to quiet his mind and meditate until the lake was frozen, and that he believed the grace of the Force opened his eyes to the value of patience.

"I couldn't have found my crystal without the Force as my ally," said Ganodi, grinning, "As long as the Force exists, I'll have unlimited hope in everything that happens."

"I needed the Force to trust in to get mine," said Zatt, "and my datapad was getting in the way. It was keeping grace away from me, but after smashing it, I found out how to properly find the crystal."

"And I guess my former selfishness was obstructing my connection to the Force," said Petro, "but when I helped Katooni escape that cave, this grace you told us about revealed the crystal to me."

"Indeed," said a nearby voice. They all turned and saw Master Yoda standing nearby.

"It's good to see you, Master Yoda," said Sinube.

"Good to see all of you, too, it is," Yoda replied. "Learned something today, have you, young Jedi?"

"The Force grants grace to all through faith, grace stumbled upon, not found," the children all said as one.

"Very good, younglings," Yoda said with a smile. "Come now. Time for more lessons in physical discipline, it is."

"Aww," said Ganodi, "I was hoping for more reading time. But now we have to go back to work!"

Katooni chuckled. "Don't worry, Ganodi," she said, "Just remember our lessons today, and the Force will give us grace, even if we stumble upon it instead of finding it."

"Okay," said Ganodi, and they all followed Master Yoda to the youngling training room.


End file.
